Wonder Valkyrie

Under orders of Odin, the valkyries of Valhalla began capturing Amazons of Paradise Island shortly after World War II. These valkyries had wings but also rode wingless flying horses. Odin sought to turn the impressive Amazons into valkyries, but the Greek goddess Aphrodite restored the Amazons to their usual selves (Wonder Woman #23).

Wonder Woman. Vol. 1. No. 23. May 1947. "Seige of the Savage War Maidens" by Charles Moulton.

Metamorpho: The Standby Superhero

If DC Comics had launched a non-team like the Defenders, Metamorpho would have been a strong candidate. Radiation from a meteorite transformed soldier-of-fortune Rex Mason into Metamorpho, the Element Man. Dismayed by his altered appearance, the reluctant hero turned down an invitation to join the Justice League of America but agreed to assist in emergencies (JLA #42).

When Joker, Penguin, and the Riddler conspired to change Batman into the lumbering Bat-Hulk, the caped crusader sought out Metamorpho—hoping his chemical powers might reverse the effects. Instead, a bolt of lightning did the trick (Brave and the Bold #68). Unlike Bruce Banner, whose clothing ripped when he became Hulk, Bruce Wayne's bat-costume stayed intact as Bat-Hulk.

Before Metamorpho declined membership in Justice League of America #42 (Feb. 1966), Green Arrow (#4), Atom (#14), and Hawkman (#31) had said yes. Metamorpho faced Bat-Hulk in The Brave and the Bold #68 (Oct.-Nov. 1966).

Grown Names

Some time ago, I posted about episodes of Justice League Unlimited that depicted Hawkgirl and several other DC characters as indirect counterparts to the Defenders. I found the animated version of Hawkgirl surprising, however, since the comic book character had changed her name to Hawkwoman by this point. In World's Finest #272 (Oct. 1981), she told Hawkman that she didn't like the connotation of the term girl and started correcting those who called her that by mistake. I prefer the way Hawkwoman sounds and wish her name had stayed that way.

Comic books have plenty of other examples of heroic peers with codenames that suggest different levels of maturity. The original X-Men notably included Marvel Girl and Iceman (the youngest member of the group). The Legion of Super-Heroes sidestepped the man/girl imbalance as both male and female heroes of the 30th century had youthful codenames. Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #235 (Jan. 1978) revealed that people of the future used the terms boy and kid well into their twenties because scientific breakthroughs had vastly extended their life spans.

Timberwolverine

Wolverine has changed costumes a few times in his career. One of my favorites was a costume he seized from Fang of the Imperial Guard (X-Men #107). Fang was an intentional nod to the DC hero Timber Wolf of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Sporting the costume accentuated any comparisons between Wolverine and the Legionnaire.

This image of Wolverine in Fang's costume comes from Iron Fist #15 (Sept. 1977).

Telepaths of Titan

If I hadn't started blogging about the Defenders back in 2008, I might have selected the Legion of Super-Heroes instead. Had that happened, I would be much more knowledgeable about the DC universe of the 30th century than I am today. Here's an interesting piece of trivia linking the two teams: Saturn Girl, a telepath and founding member of the Legion, comes from Titan, the same moon of Saturn where Moondragon honed her telepathic powers.

To date, my only prior blog reference to the Legion came when comparing super-hero Bouncing Boy to Pinball, an enemy of Nighthawk from the Squadron Supreme. If I run low on Defenders content, I might post more thoughts about the Legion.

This page about Saturn Girl originally appeared in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe.

The Pink Riddler

For my birthday this week, I received an action figure of the Riddler that I had been eyeing for some time. I have relatively few collectibles, but this particular figure is notable for depicting the Riddler in the pink costume that he wore during the opening sequence of The New Adventures of Batman, an animated TV series from 1977 that I watched as a kid. Outside of the opening, the villain didn't appear within any episodes of the cartoon.

Since the Riddler traditionally wears green, I don’t know how much demand there is for this obscure rendition of the character. And yet, it was that very novelty that sparked my interest in the figure, which made for a memorable birthday gift.

I alluded to the Riddler in an early blog post about Defenders #124. I have considered devoting more attention to DC characters, at times, even though they might veer outside the scope of a Defenders blog.

Neutral: Earth Prime

Stepping well outside the scope of the Defenders, I've wanted to include the character Ultraa in my posts about the alignment system from Dungeons & Dragons. An acquaintance of the Justice League of America, Ultraa was the first superhero of Earth Prime (a world where the JLA was mere fiction). Soon after Ultraa's heroic debut, the first supervillain also premiered on Earth Prime. This coincidence led Ultraa to believe that a balancing force was at work in the universe, evening the scales between good and evil. Therefore, the best way to protect his world from super criminals was to give up being a superhero. This seemingly convoluted outlook would fit within an alignment of true Neutral.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

Ultraa made his debut in Justice League of America #153 (April 1978).

Reservations about Wertham

I've written several posts over the years about Seduction of the Innocent, Fredric Wertham's scathing attack on the comic book industry. After rereading the book again, I've decided to address a few more of Wertham's arguments, which contributed to the Comics Code of 1954. Wertham held that comic books were anti-educational. Western comics, for example, did not accurately portray the American West. Additionally, placing dialogue in word balloons was just one of many practices that depleted comics of literary merit.

The merits of some of Wertham's claims were themselves suspect, however, such as his contention that superheroes promoted a Fascist ideology. In Chapter II, Wertham remarked that we should be thankful the S on Superman's chest was not an S.S. That comparison was blatantly ahistorical seeing how often comic books had portrayed Superman and other costumed heroes battling Nazis during the Second World War.

Wertham's credibility might be called into question elsewhere as well. In Chapter IV, he recalled a conversation with a boy who suffered from nightmares. The boy said he liked reading Blue Beetle comics, likening the title character to Superman but with the added power of turning into a beetle. Wertham said it was easy to understand why a child would be frightened after reading the adventures of a man who became an insect. The problem with Wertham's analysis, however, was that Blue Beetle did not transform into an insect—exposing Wertham's unfamiliarity with the material he was so prone to condemn.

Right or wrong, Wertham was convinced that comic books interfered with the psychological well-being of children and their ability to identify with positive role models. In Chapter IX, he asked, "Is that the best we can do for children, that we teach them the Green Lantern will help?" Interestingly, though self-reflection was uncommon for characters during the Golden Age of comics, Green Lantern would readily question his impact on society during the Bronze Age.

The original Green Lantern first appearance in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940).

On a Lark

Lady Lark was among the most tragic members of the Squadron Supreme. As revealed in the Squadron Supreme limited series, Linda Lewis had been a successful recording artist until an accident damaged her vocal cords. Following an operation, new vocal cords gave her superhuman sonic powers. As a drawback, however, she could no longer sing (Squadron Supreme #1, #4). In some respects, Lady Lark's music career had parallels to that of Dazzler, a singer whose mutant powers over light and sound propelled her into the role of reluctant superhero.

Like other early members of the Squadron Supreme, Lady Lark had a counterpart in the Justice League of America—specifically, Black Canary, with her ear-piercing "canary cry." On top of that, Lady Lark's on-again, off-again relationship with teammate Golden Archer was an homage to Black Canary's romantic pairing with Green Arrow in DC Comics.

This image of Lady Lark comes from Avengers #147 (May 1976). Since her powers often appeared as music notes, singing may have been how Lady Lark activated her superhuman abilities.

Leadership Leanings

Before he began vying to lead the Defenders, Beast gained some practical experience in X-Men #137. During a showdown against the Imperial Guard, the mutant heroes split into two teams, with Beast leading Colossus, Storm and Wolverine. While Beast had demonstrated his ingenuity on plenty of occasions, this may have been his first time acting as a group leader.

Introduced in X-Men #107, the initial Imperial Guard consisted of thinly veiled stand-ins for the Legion of Superheroes from DC Comics. Not until #137 did the Imperial Guard add a handful of unique members.

This panel from X-Men #137 (Sept. 1980) shows the mutants' first encounter with Warstar, a symbiotic addition to the Imperial Guard.

Wonder Twin

It's easy to draw comparisons between Sub-Mariner and Aquaman from DC Comics. But Sub-Mariner had another counterpart among the Super Friends. With pointed ears and black hair, Zan of the Wonder Twins physically resembled the Sub-Mariner.

Zan and sister Jayna made their debut in 1977 on The All-New Super Friends Hour. The two teens from the planet Exxor joined the ranks of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman and Robin. While Jayna could take the shape of animals, Zan could become various forms of water, including steam and ice objects. The aquatic nature of his powers strengthened Zan's similarities to Sub-Mariner. In terms of personality, however, the even-keeled Zan had little in common with the boastful Prince of Atlantis.

Whizzer's Rogues

The Flash accrued one of the most creative rogues' galleries in DC Comics. But a similar observation could not be made of Whizzer, the Squadron Supreme's counterpart to the Flash. Squadron Supreme #8 showed Whizzer defeat two old foes named Rustler and Bollix. The outlaw duo seemed to have no super powers aside from their newly acquired force field belts (invented by Squadron member Tom Thumb). In contrast, Tom Thumb's obituary would report how he had apprehended scores of bizarre criminals, such as the Iron Moth (#10). I would have liked to have learned about more of these imaginative enemies.

This panel comes from Squadron Supreme #8 (April 1986).

Nuke: Half a Hero

Though loosely based on Firestorm of the Justice League of America, the hero Nuke of the Squadron Supreme was at a disadvantage. Unlike Firestorm, Nuke was not a composite character; he did not share a mind with an accomplished physicist who could fill the role of superego for the young hero. As a result, Nuke lacked a scientific understanding his nuclear powers and the maturity to temper his emotional short fuse.

From a storytelling perspective, the Squadron's sizable roster may have prevented Nuke from developing into a more multifaceted character before his death in Squadron Supreme #3 (Nov. 1985).

This image of Nuke appeared in the Squadron Supreme entry of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

In the Shadow of Tier S

In this series of posts placing characters into alphabetical tiers based on their powers, I am not slotting any of the Defenders into Tier S: a penultimate tier directly above Tier A. This is because I see Tier A as the cap for Marvel heroes during the span of the original Defenders and New Defenders series (1971-1986).

In contrast, however, I would place Superman into Tier S during this time frame. His indestructibility and vast array of abilities made him recognizably more powerful than other DC heroes. Although the versions of Hyperion from the Squadron Sinister and Squadron Supreme were Marvel homages to Superman, their scaled-back strength fell far enough below Superman's to rest within Tier A.

Squadron Supreme #8 (April 1986) pitted Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme against his evil counterpart from the Squadron Sinister.

The Squadron Symmetry

At the time of their appearance in Defenders #113, the Squadron Supreme had a dozen active members—each corresponding in varying degrees to a member of the Justice League of America. That being said, not everyone in the Justice League up to that point had a Squadron counterpart—and that's not all bad. Creatively speaking, making the Squadron even larger could have had diminishing returns and shortchanged the team's originality.

For example, a Squadron homage to Elongated Man could have felt reminiscent of Mr. Fantastic (featured in Defenders #105), and a Squadron equivalent to Red Tornado could have overshadowed the Vision (who would play a central role in #123). As for the Phantom Stranger and honorary JLA member Snapper Carr, these characters were too tertiary to warrant counterparts in the already sizable Squadron.

As much as I liked the dynamic that married couple Hawkgirl and Hawkman brought to the Justice League of America, the Squadron sufficed with a singular winged weaponsmith in Cap'n Hawk (a.k.a. Blue Eagle).

As a pleasant surprise, the Squadron Supreme limited series would establish that an extraterrestrial Skrull helped found the team, matching Martian Manhunter's place as a founding member of the JLA. From that point on, however, the order of new recruits to the Squadron did not always follow the same order as the JLA.

Green Arrow (the basis for Golden Archer of the Squadron Supreme) joined in Justice League of America #4, becoming the team's first new recruit. For the Squadron, the first new member was Tom Thumb (a loose approximation of the Atom, who joined in JLA #9).

Nighthawk's Rogues

Seeing how Batman developed one of the most recognized rogues' galleries in comic book history, it stood to reason that the version of Nighthawk in the Squadron Supreme would have a rogues' gallery of his own. Although we don't know every supervillain Nighthawk might have faced, Squadron Supreme #7 identified Remnant, Mink, and Pinball as the hero's oldest foes.

• Remnant, the most esoteric of the trio, could pull a magic carpet and other items from the "bottomless pocket" in his costume.
• Mink armed herself with claws and a poisonous perfume spray. A flashback in #9 revealed that Mink had once been a member of the Institute of Evil, a supervillain team that often battled the Squadron.
• With the ability to expand into a rubbery sphere, Pinball had powers similar to the DC hero Bouncing Boy from the Legion of Superheroes.

This image of Nighthawk, Remnant, Mink, and Pinball comes from Squadron Supreme #9. The hero and villains formed an unlikely alliance to end the Utopia Project introduced in #1.

Contemplating the Titans

Conceptually, the Teen Titans and the Defenders have little in common. The founding members of the Teen Titans were sidekicks to adult DC heroes, while the founding members of the Defenders were highly powerful and individualistic Marvel heroes. After hearing the podcast Titan Up The Defense, which discusses classic issues of each team on alternating weeks, I decided to look for commonalities between the two super groups. Here are a few examples:

• Aqualad, a founding member of the Teen Titans, has Atlantean parallels to the Sub-Mariner, a founding member of the Defenders.
• Robin (Nightwing), the original leader of the Teen Titans, was the longtime sidekick to Batman; Marvel Comics patterned Nighthawk after Batman.
• Superhuman strength, weaponry, and a mythological background makes Wonder Girl analogous to Valkyrie.
• Daughter of the demonic Trigon, the mystical Raven corresponds to Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan.
• With green skin and the power of transformation, Changeling (Beast Boy) has superficial similarities to the Hulk.
• Three of the New Defenders began fighting crime as teenage members of the X-Men.

The Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964) marked the beginning of the Teen Titans, when three sidekicks teamed up. The young heroes soon landed their own series, which ran 53 issues, and then found new popularity with the launch of The New Teen Titans #1 (Nov. 1980).

To Abin Sur, With Love

The Squadron Supreme had twelve active members when they fought the non-team in Defenders #113. The Squadron Supreme limited series that followed would reveal a former member of the Squadron: a Skrull who helped found the group. Adding to the decided parallels between the Squadron Supreme and the Justice League of America, the green-skinned Skrull was a nod to J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

That Skrull turned out to be a counterpart to another character from DC Comics as well. In presenting the origin of Dr. Spectrum, Squadron Supreme #4 showed how the hero received his Power Prism as a gift after saving the Skrull's life. The Skrull, therefore, was analogous not only to Martian Manhunter but also to Abin Sur, the dying extraterrestrial who gave Green Lantern his Power Ring. I admired the clever and economical storytelling in blending two DC characters into one character in the Squadron Supreme. As a fan of this version of the Squadron Supreme, I also enjoyed seeing any glimpse into the early years of the team.

Lawful Good: Tom Thumb

Tom Thumb, resident inventor of the Squadron Supreme, played a pivotal role in bringing forth the Utopia Program on the Squadron's homeworld. Tom's most notable invention was a behavior modification machine designed to rehabilitate criminals by conditioning them to detest illegal thoughts … essentially compelling them to act in accordance of the Lawful Good alignment from Dungeons & Dragons. The behavior modification machine, along with other aspects of the Utopia Program, invited criticism for encroaching on civil liberties.

After developing cancer, Tom Thumb traveled to the 40th century to steal a Panacea Potion from the Scarlet Centurion, only to find upon returning home that the fabled cure was nothing more than penicillin and a few complex vitamins. Before his death, the conflicted hero regretted compromising his principles out of desperation (Squadron Supreme #9). Tom Thumb was an example of a character who extolled the virtues of Lawful Good despite deviating from that alignment.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

This panel from Squadron Supreme #10 recalls when Tom Thumb joined the team. On a surface level, Tom Thumb's below-average height was reminiscent of the DC hero Atom (as the Squadron was an homage to the Justice League of America). Unlike Atom, however, Tom Thumb did not have the power to change size. Rather, Tom Thumb's aptitude as an inventor earned him a unique place in the Squadron.

The Return of Whizzer

Like other members of the Squadron Sinister, the villain Whizzer was a nod to a member of the Justice League of America—specifically Flash (Barry Allen). Unlike the rest of the Squadron Sinister, Whizzer also had a similarly named counterpart at Timely Comics (a predecessor to Marvel Comics).

Robert Frank, the original Whizzer, first appeared in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941). The character acquired superhuman speed and vitality from a transfusion of mongoose blood designed to save his life following a venomous snake bite. As a costumed hero, Whizzer soon became a member of the All Winners Squad, a group that also included Miss America, Sub-Mariner, Captain America (with sidekick Bucky), and the original Human Torch (with sidekick Toro).

Three decades later, Giant-Size Avengers #1 (Aug. 1974) brought Whizzer out of retirement, getting more mileage out of the character. Without the benefit of half-Atlantean physiology, or years spent in suspended animation, Whizzer had aged normally and found himself past his physical prime. For a time, indirect evidence led Whizzer to incorrectly believe that he and Miss America (now deceased) were the true parents of the mutant twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Whizzer's own history become more complex when retroactive continuity effectively split the All Winners Squad into two new teams set during World War II. Invaders #1 (Aug. 1975) sent Sub-Mariner, Captain America, and Human Torch to battle the Axis powers in Europe. Marvel Premiere #29 (April 1976), on the other hand, placed Whizzer and Miss America, along with Red Raven and a handful of other costumed crimefighters of that era, in a homefront team called the Liberty Legion.

Perhaps to avoid confusion with the increasing prominence of the original Whizzer, the villainous Whizzer from the Squadron Sinister later changed his handle to Speed Demon. It is worth noting that, over at DC Comics, the original Flash (Jay Garrick) first appeared in Flash Comics #1 (Jan. 1940).

This image of Whizzer comes from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.